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I'm planning on applying to about 10 law school in the coming fall/winter. I basically screwed up every single class except for math, science and photography in the first two years at community college.

The reasons are:

I didn't speak much English.

I didn't have friends or family to help me.

I had to work full time.

I was hospitalized three times due to ovarian cysts and abdominal pain.

A classmate claimed my work as hers in an art class.


The last one is probably not important. Anyway, should I write an addendum? If so, what should I write? My LSAC GPA from community college is a 2.8 and my LSAC GPA from senior college is somewhere between 3.5-3.6. I assume what admission committees will see is a 3.1. My LSAT score is a 176.

I don't know if this matters, but I am applying to NYU, Fordham, Cardozo, Brooklyn, CUNY, Cornell, GULC, and NU. I don't this I'll get rejected from Cardozo, Brooklyn, and CUNY. I am assuming I will have a decent chance at Fordham and NU. All the other schools are reach schools for me.

Sure, an addendum is a good idea, but you can explain the last point? Your classmate claimed your work as hers? Were you accused of plagiarism? Were there any academic sanctions involved?

It was for an art class. She claimed my final project (a color wheel) as hers in front of the whole class and I received a C in that class. It was my second semester and I had been in this country for only for 10 months or so and was still taking ESL classes. I didn't have the courage to speak up they it was mine in front of everybody. I don't really have any other reason for the bad grades received in the other classes. Now I look at my transcript and wonder how I got a C in health education....

Max, I think you have commented on every single thread of mine. Thank you for your help.

I should clarify that the professor assumed that I did not do the final project. I don't think it's necessary to let schools know about that. I was stupid.

if you can get a 176 on the LSAT after only knowing English for a few years, I'd admit you to my law school anyday

definitely write an addendum under these circumstances. but i would leave out info about the art project. pick your battles.

gatesome,

Thank you. I wrote about the experience in detail only because Max asked about it. Should I write that I was hospitalized or I didn't speak much English?

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FuriousDuck,

That makes sense. Thank you. How do I indicate that I've worked full-time in my application? I left that part out in my personal statement.

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If possible, I'd like to hide some part of my job history. Is that possible? I feel like writing that I worked at a factory or a housekeeper would hurt my chance of getting admitted.

Splitter1415 wrote:If possible, I'd like to hide some part of my job history. Is that possible? I feel like writing that I worked at a factory or a housekeeper would hurt my chance of getting admitted.

It won't make a difference.

So, can I just leave that part out?

Aren't you writing about working full-time in your addendum? Might be strange to make reference to it but then omit it from your resume.

Apply more broadly, by the way. Even if you don't want to attend some of the schools you're accepted to, you can use the acceptances as leverage for financial aid. Good luck with the NYU app, hope you can join us in the Village!

Thank you very much, Max. Which school do you think I should apply to? Just T-14? Or lower ranked schools? I guess I have to write about working as a housekeeper, then. I worked at a factory back home, so I'm not going to write about that.

I'd apply to some lower ranked schools for sure. It'll be good to have options -- a few T14s, and some strong regionals at a lower COA.

I guess BU, BC and GW could work since those schools are not too far away from NYC. I don't know how I feel about applying to schools like UConn and Temple, though.

Splitter1415 wrote:So, can I just leave that part out?

Don't leave anything out of your resume. Gaps in a resume create questions about what you were doing or could be trying to hide. Having domestic or manual labor jobs are in no way, shape, or form a negative on law school applications. At worst they are neutral, but more commonly they are a positive because they show the applicant knows how to work hard. Be sure to include how long you worked at the job (dates with year AND month) and how many hours per week you worked.

As for the addendum, I pretty much agree with the advice given above. Editing is important because inclusion of too many things can make it sound like you're a little flakey. The thing about the art class would make sense if that was your only bad grade, but it wasn't. Leave it out because it didn't impact your overall poor performance during that period in any specific or special way. It was one bad grade among many. Stick with the overall reasons for your generally poor performance during that time, i.e. English, adjusting to school, health issues. I'd say keep it under a page.

You'll also definitely want a few letters of recommendation from professors to reinforce your argument that those early grades don't represent your abilities.

Dean Perez

Dean Perez,

It's impossible for me to leave out the "I had to work as a domestic worker" part. However, a lot of people advised me to leave out my experience working at a factory back home. I'm relieved to know that my job history won't affect my applications negatively.

I'm still doing bad in political science classes receiving all B's. (I just started senior college two years ago and it is still very difficult for me to understand how things work in this country). However, I have received an A in every single English class since the last year of community college. I hope that's enough to show law schools that I have improved over time.

Thank you very much for your advice.

Splitter1415 wrote:So, can I just leave that part out?

Is this work you did while doing your undergrad, or prior to? There are a few things you can expect people to be looking for in your work history. One is your ability to actually work and handle a workload - something of an 'intangible', as performance as a student, even in highly technical field, isn't a sure indicator of performance at work (and law schools aren't looking to make good students, they're looking to make good workers). The second (I should have put this down as a first) is just whether or not you have work experience. You might be surprised, but there are a fair number of students who come out of high school who have never worked (this is mostly a "prestigious college problem). Even more who have only done work at the school, which is a joke nine times out of ten.

The third is flavor. It is very unlikely it would make any impact, but depending on what the school is and how close the competition is, your "flavor" can make a difference. A student who in his youth worked in a Shanghai factory before his parents emigrated is one with a lot of "flavor". A person who worked in lobster boats also has a good bit of "flavor". And again, keep in mind it's unlikely these will matter a great deal on any application. The biggest thing is just whether or not you have work experience, and whether or not it's significant.

I'd say put it in. I can't imagine it hurting you, unless it was something illegal. You haven't told us what kind of factory it was, which makes a difference. That's a part of the "flavor" of your application.

Troianii,

I worked at a factory examining soy sauce bottle caps. I worked there part-time during high school and full-time after high school. I am not very smart and that's one of the reasons why I have never had a white-collar job. I don't want to let that affect my application since I am not law school material.

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FuriousDuck,

Thank you for trying to make me feel better. I got criticized by three law school graduates/advisors about my work experience and background recently. I was advised to get a real job first because they don't know if I'm good enough for law school. I didn't know how to respond when one of them asked me if I had cheated on the LSAT.

Many people have been letting me down and it's been pretty difficult for me to work on an addendum and a personal statement. I'm very ashamed of myself.

Splitter1415 wrote:FuriousDuck,

Thank you for trying to make me feel better. I got criticized by three law school graduates/advisors about my work experience and background recently. I was advised to get a real job first because they don't know if I'm good enough for law school. I didn't know how to respond when one of them asked me if I had cheated on the LSAT.

Many people have been letting me down and it's been pretty difficult for me to work on an addendum and a personal statement. I'm very ashamed of myself.

The people at TLS are more knowledgeable than whoever your advisors are. You got a great score. Be proud of that and don't care what those people said.
Post your stuff here and people will help you. Sometimes your best friends are on the internet (not the people who put you down in real life.)

NYSprague,

Thank you. I'll try to finish everything over the summer and come back here for advice since I'm going to be pretty busy next semester. I have to thank the frequent posters of this forum for their help and encouragement.

Something that you need to understand is that the US has a different culture surrounding work than your country. Almost all adcomms are going to think the fact that you've done manual labor makes you a hard worker, not stupid.